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Gender Role Attitudes and Marital Sorting: Implications for Household Inequality

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Francesconi
  • Cheti Nicoletti
  • Khushboo Surana

Abstract

We study the role of gender role attitudes (GRA)-beliefs about appropriate roles for men and women-in marital sorting and intra-household allocations. Using the UK Household Longitudinal Study and a multidimensional matching model, we estimate the contribution of GRA to the joint marriage utility alongside age, education, BMI, height, health, personality traits, and risk preferences. We find that sorting on GRA is quantitatively important: its contribution to the joint utility is comparable in magnitude to that of education. We apply a decomposition that identifies three main indices underlying the joint utility, with GRA loading heavily on one of the dominant indices jointly with age and education. This GRA-related index strongly predicts subsequent allocations within marriage, including spouses' shares of housework, childcare, earnings, and paid labor. These findings indicate that GRA are a central dimension of assortative matching and play a meaningful role in shaping intra-household behavior and gendered labor market outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Francesconi & Cheti Nicoletti & Khushboo Surana, 2026. "Gender Role Attitudes and Marital Sorting: Implications for Household Inequality," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 26069, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin).
    • Handle: RePEc:crm:wpaper:26069
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    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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